On the road to a healthier life there are some hurdles to jump over. One hurdle is habit.



~ Is this hurdle too high? ~

Habit is a tough hurdle for some people. There are many habits ... good and bad ... and they've built up in your life over a long time. It's next to impossible to just banish them overnight. Mark Twain once wrote, "A habit cannot be tossed out of the window, it must be coaxed down the stairs a step at a time."

You definitely can't get rid of a whole bunch of bad habits at once ... you have to take care of them one at a time. Start with an easy habit first ... then work your way up to the really tough ones.

~ Jumping the smaller hurdles first ~

Let's say your bad habits are snacking late at night, drinking too much coffee all day, and staying up until three in the morning. Pick the one that's the easiest to jump first.

Well ... if you're staying up until the wee hours of the morning, you're going to need some coffee just to get you through the day. And if your vegetating in front of the boob tube until the early hours ... it's a given that you'll feel a strong urge to snack.

So ... let's tackle the bedtime habit first ... let's jump that hurdle before we attempt the others. But, wait a minute ... there's no way you can just go from staying up until 3 am to hitting the hay at 11 pm. Make a minor adjustment first.

Maybe you've been staying up every night to watch the late show. In that case ... how about switching to a show that ends at 2 am? Then wean yourself off to 1 am.

Before you know it ... you've coaxed that habit a good number of steps downstairs.

~ You're ready for the next set of hurdles ~

Now that you're getting to bed at a more decent hour ... your need for a snack will lessen a bit ... the call for coffee drops from a bugle call to a softer hunting horn. By the time you've started getting to bed between 11 and midnight ... the need for a late night snack is pretty well down the stairs too. Now you can just give it a swift kick out the door.

Since you're getting a good night's sleep ... do you really feel the life-sustaining need for vast quantities of Java? It's time to start giving the poor overworked coffeemaker a rest. Cut out a few cups at a time ... bring that habit down the stairs.

Habits aren't irreversible. They are hurdles that you can get rid of. You just need to develop good habits. Any habit that is affecting your health ... needs to be coaxed down the stairs.

Which habit are you going to start coaxing today?